Nominations for this year’s Reading Cultural Awards include many events reviewed by the Whitley Pump, as well as several venues in Katesgrove, Redlands or Whitley. Winners will be announced on 29 June at a ceremony at the Olympia Ballroom on London Street, Katesgrove.

Nominations show how much art and culture is going on in our local area, and how contributors to the Whitley Pump have been enjoying themselves over the last year!

Image courtesy of (c) Reading Between The Lines

Henry I, from Reading Between the Lines, has been nominated for the Made in Reading award; this is a category for a performance, visual arts piece or project created within Reading. The play has also been nominated for Performance of the Year, the Reading Place ofCulture Ambassador Award and the Celebrating Reading’s Heritage Award. Other plays produced by the company also feature and it received a nomination in the Cultural Organisation of the Year category.

(c) Reading Rep

Reading Rep’s Ben Hur at the Hexagon has been nominated for Made in Reading and the Rep is also on the list for Cultural Organisation of the Year.

Gift. Image courtesy of (c) Beautiful Creatures

Beautiful Creatures appears in the Cultural Organisation of the Year nominations. One of their 2016 productions was Gift.

His Dark Materials from the Progress Theatre has one of thirteen nominations for Performance of the Year. This two-part adaptation of Philip Pullman’s trilogy was a captivating and challenging production with a cast of 130 characters shared among 28 actors.

Whitley Community Museum has been nominated for the Celebrating Reading’s Heritage Award. The local museum is up against bigger organisations such as Reading Museum and the National Trust in this category.

The Bridge and the Baby (Ray Atkins). Image courtesy of (c) Reading Borough Council (Reading Museum)

The On Track exhibition at Reading Museum appears in the Celebrating Reading’s Heritage category and Reading Arts and Business in Partnership. Reading Museum’s Ray Atkins: the Reading Years exhibition was nominated for the Visual Arts Event of the year.

Red contraption at the MERL

Dorset wagon at the MERL

Museum of English Rural Life(MERL) appears in the Cultural Organisation of the Year category. The MERL re-opened in October 2016 following a major refurbishment.

Image courtesy of (c) Ma Bessie and her Pig Foot Band

Reading Fringe Festival has been nominated for Cultural Organisation of the Year and for Festival of the Year. The Whitley Pump reviewed Ma Bessie & her Pig Foot band at the Olympia Ballroom, one of the acts which was part of the Reading Fringe Festival.